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Story One
UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL PERMITTED
Prologue
The entrance did not inspire respect The coded lock was broken, the floor was littered with the traarettes Inside the elevator the walls were covered with graffiti, the word Spartak scrawled as often as the usual crude obscenities The plastic buttons had been burned through with cigarettes and painstakingly plugged with chewing gum that was now rock-hard
The door to the apartood match for the entrance: some kind of hideous old Soviet artificial leather, cheap aluminum numbers barely held on by their crooked screws
Natasha hesitated for a moment before she pressed the doorbell Shefrom a place like this If you were so crazy and desperate that you’d decided to try ic, you could just open the newspaper, switch on the TV, or listen to the radio Legitimate spiritualist salons, experienced mediums with international diploh But at least you’d be in pleasant surroundings, with pleasant people¡ªnot like this last resort for hopeless losers
She rang the bell anyway She didn’t want her journey to be a waste of time
At first it seemed like the apartment was empty Then she heard hasty footsteps, those typical of so off their feet as they shuffle along For a brief instant the tiny spy-hole went dark, then the lock grated and the door opened
"Oh, Natasha, is it? Come in, come in"
She had never liked people who spoke too faht to be a little bit more formality
But the wo her into the apart her unceremoniously by the hand, and with an expression of such sincere hospitality on her aging, brightlyherself to object
"My friend told an
"I don’t know, I don’t know about that,her hands in the air "Oh, don’t take your shoes off, I was just going to clean the place up oh, all right then, I’ll try to find you a pair of slippers"
Natasha looked around, finding it difficult to conceal her disgust
The hallasn’t so very s fro was dull, maybe thirty watts at best, but even that couldn’t hide the general squalor The hallstand was piled high with clothes, including a musquash winter coat that fed the moths The sray color Natasha’s hostesstime
"Your nahter? Mine’s Dasha"
Dasha was at least fifteen or twenty years older than her She could have been Natasha’syourself A pudgy figure, with dirty, dull hair and bright lacquer peeling off her fingernails, wearing a washed-out housecoat and crulittered with bright lacquer too My God, how vulgar!
"Are you a seer?" Natasha asked And in her own mind she screamed: "What a fool I am!"
Dasha nodded She bent down and extracted a pair of rubber slippers froled heap of footwear The most idiotic slippers ever invented¡ªthe kind with all those rubber points sticking out on the inside A yogi’s dreao, but that hadn’t made the slippers any ested joyfully
As if she were hypnotized, Natasha took off her sandals and put on the slippers Goodbye, pantyhose She was bound to get a couple of runs, even in her fa in this world was a swindle invented by cunning fools And for soent people always fell for it
"Yes, I’m a seer," Dasha declared as she attentively supervised the donning of the slippers "I got it frorandma And my mom too All of them were seers, they all helped people, it’s in our family Come into the kitchen, Natasha I haven’t tidied up the roo so stupid, Natasha went into the kitchen, which met all her expectations: a heap of dirty dishes in the sink, a filthy table¡ªwhen they appeared a cockroach crawled lazily off the top and underneath The s had obviously not been washed for the spring, and the ceiling was fly-spotted
"Sit down" Dasha deftly pulled a stool out from under the table and moved it over to the place of honor¡ªbetween the table and the refrigerator, a convulsively twitching Saratov
"Thank you, I’ll stand" Natasha had made her mind up not to sit down The stool inspired even less confidence than the table or the floor "Dasha That’s Darya?"
"Yes, Darya"
"Darya, I really only wanted to find out"
The woed She clicked the switch on the electric kettle¡ªprobably the only object in the kitchen that didn’t look as if it had been retrieved froe heap She looked at Natasha "Find out? There’s nothing to find out Everything’s just as clear as day"
For a moment Natasha had an unpleasant, oppressive sensation, as if there weren’t enough light in the kitchen Everything went gray, the agonized ruerator and the noise of the traffic on the avenue nearby fell silent She wiped the icy perspiration off her forehead It was the heat The su journey in the metro, the crush in the trolley Why hadn’t she taken a taxi? She’d sent away the driver with the car¡ªwell, she’d been asha and why but why hadn’t she taken a taxi?
"Your husband’s left you, Natashenka," Darya said affectionately "Teeks ago Left all of a sudden, packed, threw his things into a suitcase and just upped and left you Without any quarrels, without any arguments He left the apart bitch with black eyebrows but you’re not old yet, hter"
This tihter" She was trying desperately to remember what she’d told her friend and what she hadn’t She didn’t think she’d irl really did have a dark coain by a wild, blind fury
"And I knohy he left, Natashenka Forgive hter’¡ªyou’re a strong wos, but you’re all like hters to me You didn’t have any children, Natasha Did you?"
"No," Natasha whispered
"But why not,her head reproachfully "He wants a daughter, right?"
"Yes, a daughter"
"Then why didn’t you have one?" Darya asked with a shrug "I’ve got five children Two of thehter’sher baby now The other’s studying And the youngest, the wild one" She waved her hand through the air "Sit dohy don’t you"
Natasha reluctantly lowered herself onto the stool, holding her purse fir to seize the initiative, she said, "It’s just the way life worked out Well, I would have had a child for him, but you can’t ruin your career for that"
"That’s true too" The seer didn’t try to argue She rubbed her face with her hands "It’s your choice Right then, you want to bring him back? But why did he leave? Your rival’s already carrying his child and shewith hioodhim back? Even now?"
Natasha pursed her lips
"Yes"
The seer sighed
"We can bring hied subtly, become heavy and emphatic
" Only it won’t be easy Just bringing hi him that’s the problem!"
"I want to anyway"
"All of us, ic inside us" Darya leaned forward across the table Her eyes seeh Natasha "Siic With all your aotten about it, and that’s a mistake! But neverin three stages"
She knocked gently on the table
"The first thing I’ll give you a love potion This is not a great sin The potion will bring yourhim back, but it won’t keep him there"
Natasha nodded uncertainly The idea of dividing the enchantes" see from this wo Your rival’s child must never be born If it is, you won’t be able to keep your reat sin, destroy an innocent child in the wo about!" Natasha said with a shudder "I’ to end up in court!"
"I’ about poison, Natashenka I’ll make a pass with my hands,"¡ªand the seer really did make a pass with her open palms¡ª"and then clap them And the job’s done, the sin’s committed No court involved"
Natasha didn’t say anything
"Only I won’t take that sin onherself frenziedly "I’ll help you if you like, but then you’ll have to answer to God!"
Evidently taking the silence as consent, she continued:
"The third thing You’ll have a child yourself I’ll help with that too You’ll have a beautiful, clever daughter who’ll be a help to you and a joy to your husband Then all your troubles will be over"
"Are you serious about all this?" Natasha asked in a quiet voice "You can do all this"
"I’ll tell you how it is," said Darya, standing up "You say ’yes," and it will all happen Your husband will come back tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, your rival will et pregnant But afterward I will¡ªand I’ll take a lot I tell you that now, I swear by Christ the Lord"
Natasha gave a crooked smile
"And what if I cheat you and don’t bring you the ’s already been done"
She stopped short The seer was looking at her sternly, without speaking With an air of gentle syhter "You won’t cheat me, Natashenka Just think for a "
Natasha sed hard She tried to make a joke of it:
"So it’s payment on delivery?"
"Ah, oing to love you, so practical and clever? A woman should always have some foolishness in her ah On delivery Delivery of all three items"
"How much?"
"Five"
"You want five?" Natasha burst out and broke off "I thought it was a lot cheaper than that!"
"If you just want to get your husband back, that will be cheaper But then after a while, he’ll go away again I’ you real help, a certain cure"
"I want to do it," Natasha said with a nod She had the feeling that as happening was slightly unreal So that was all: Just a clap of the hands and the unborn child would be gone? Another clap and she would bear her beloved idiot a child of her own?
"Do you take the sin on yourself?" the seer asked insistently
"What sin is there in that?" Natasha retorted, her irritation suddenly breaking through "Every woman’s committed that sin at least once!- Perhaps there isn’t anything there anyway!"
The seer pondered, as if she were listening to so She nodded her head
"There is And I think it’s definitely a daughter"